Believing in what you can’t see

Date : 19.May.2024

Speaker : Brother Jatin 

Title : Believing in what you can’t see

Bible : Genesis 15:1-6

Key verse Genesis 15:5

 

1. After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 

2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 

3 And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” 

4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” 

5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 

6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

 

 

Today in this new morning, I welcome all of you to this beautiful house of God and pray that we all listen carefully to the Lord because the Lord wants to speak something to you this morning and He wants to focus your attention so that we love and trust in that wonderful Lord more than everything else.

 

There is one movie. “ Horton hears a who”

Horton was an elephant who heard something that the other animals could not hear. 

He heard from a speck of dust from the small town of Whoville. Horton protected that little speck of dust on clover bloom, and he sat there and guarded it. He protected it, and the other animals tied him up because they thought Horton had lost his mind because Horton could hear what no-one else could hear.

When you belong to God, you can hear things other people cannot hear.

God will show you something that other people cannot see.

They thought Horton had lost his mind, and they restricted him.

People will think something is wrong with you because you are believing in something that you cannot see.

You are trusting something that you do not have your hands on yet that you can't show by laying your hands on, but faith is that substance of things hoped for and evidence of things that are not seen.

 

What are you looking for when you hire someone? You may be looking for experience, you may be looking for someone who works hard, you may be looking for someone who is willing to learn.

 

What are you looking for when you marry someone? Let me ask this question to my brother Pritam. In marriage, you are looking for intimacy, friendship, and faithfulness.

 

What do you think God is looking for when he forms a relationship with people?

We are expecting something in our relationship, in our work, in our study. What do you think God expects from you?

God is looking for faith.

If there is no intimacy, the marriage is in trouble. If the hirers are not willing to learn, that will end the contract.

If there is no faith, that is the end of the relationship with God.

 

In today's text, Abraham hears the word of the Lord, and this word from God revolutionised his life.

Verse 1 says

After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 

This is dealing with Abram's fear.

Here, Abram just returned from a great military victory. Where he freed nephew Lot and many others from the kings of the east, during the campaign Abram made a bitter enemy of the king of Elam and felt in danger of attack.

So God came to him with a word to comfort him in his fear.

 

When we are fearful and every one of us who is honest at some point has been fearful

But we need to know, more the peace that comes from knowing God.

This is the first appearance in the Bible, and in our Bible 365 times there is  written fear not.

Fear not is a peace that during your situation, God has everything under control.

Peace is not the absence of conflict, but peace is calm in the midst of your conflict.

Peace is not the absence of trouble, but peace just means you can sleep in the middle of your trouble.

Peace does not mean that you do not have any problems.

Peace just means you can come to church in the midst of your problems.

 

Not only have peace that comes from knowing God, but he also has protection that comes from knowing God.

Fear not, Abram. I am your shield, and your reward shall be very great.

Psalm 34:7 says God’s angel sets up a circle of protection around us while we pray.

Psalm 91

Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare about the Lord. He alone is my refuge, my place of safety, He is my God, and  I trust him.

Psalm 27:1-2 says, The Lord is my light and my salvation. Who shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, they stumble and fall.

 

God is your protection, God is your shield, God is your strength, God is your high tower, and he will provide protection in the presence of your enemy.

They can see you but they cannot get to you.

They can follow you, but they cannot do anything about your standing.

God is your shield; you do not have to fear what men can do to you because God is a very present help in times of trouble. Do not nervous yourself because of evildoers, do not be envious against those who work iniquity, they shall soon be cut off like grass and wither like the green area.

Go home and go to bed. Let them plot against you, but God will show you where the trap is.

They had already devised a scheme to make you fall, but God showed you not only where the trap was but who set it.

 

God will protect you,  God will keep you at peace whose mind is stayed on God.

Abram is a man who has left home, he has left his family to follow God, but as of yet, he has not even the slightest hint of all that he has been promised.

He is following God on the word, but yet he does not have possession of it; he just has a promise.

 

Abram just has a promise because every promise is yes and amen in Jesus Christ.

What kinds of promises do you have in Jesus?

You may not have it yet, but keep trusting God.

Hold on to those promises; write them down somewhere because those promises have come into your life for complete.

 

God reminds to Abram that I am faithful, I am your shield  and your great reward, That is a word about Abraham’s fear.

 

In verses 2–5, there is a word about Abraham’s future.

2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 

3 And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” 

4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” 

5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 

 

I want you to see here about faith. Faith is just a simple, childlike belief. Faith is just as simple and childlike as a child putting confidence in his or her parents.

 

For those who are fathers of children, many times it is seen that they have made their child sit on the top place, and when they ask their child to jump, the child dives with joy into his father's arms because, in the mind of the child, it never occurs to him that his father will leave/miss him. If my father caught me last time, then he will catch me this time too.

 

That is the kind of father we should have in the living God.

If he caught you last time, don't be oblivious to the fact that even if you haven't gotten into trouble yet, he will catch you next time too.

 

Before you even exercise your faith, His plans are already in motion.

Before you use your faith, God is already working on your behalf, You don't know what God is doing, but you just have to believe that God is going to do it.

 

Abram was taking Isaac to the mountain to sacrifice him because God told him to take your only son and sacrifice it.

But when they were on the mountain, Isaac said that I could see the wood, i could see the fire, but where is the offering, Where is the lamb.

Abram said, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.

Abraham doesn't have solid evidence that God is going to do anything; he just told Isaac, but faith doesn't require solid proof, if the Lord had done it before, then He could do it again.

 

When Abraham reached the mountain, God had already provided.

Do you know how? Because when Abraham was on his way up one side of the mountain with faith, the answer was coming up from the other side of the mountain.

 Do what you must do, and God will be there to do what he must because he never falls in his promises, God is ready to come with a plan and blessing on the other side.

 

I do not know, how God will do in my future, I do not know how God will keep me healthy, but I will just believe that he will.

I do not know how God is going to work this out in my life, I just believe he will.

I do not know how God is going to work on his promise, but I just believe he will.

If he did it before, he can do it again.

 

Abraham says you promised a son, and I got this servant, Eliezer of Damascus. And I am going to use him to be my heir.

Abraham is about 75 years old when he speaks to God, but God waits until he is 99 years old.

The time when he became too old and was no longer fit to be a father

Sara also can't have a child at that age.

God waits until there is no possible way that Abraham can participate in his blessing.

 

If Abraham would have done this, God would not have received the glory. God waited until it became impossible, then He made a way out without any way out.

Likewise, sometimes God is waiting for us to get out of our own way.

God can't bless us while we're trying to fix it, or he cannot provide while we are trying to come up with a scheme and ideas.

 

So when Abraham is 99 and Sarah is 90, then God says, Now I am going to give you what you have been asking for.

 

 

In today's verses, Abraham is looking for an heir, Abraham is concerned about a single heir. He is concerned for one son.

But God says, Come outside, Abrah, come outside, look up to heaven, and if you can count these stars, that is how many heirs will be added to your promises.

Abraham just wants one thing, when God wants to give him everything.

Stop praying about one thing, but pray to God for everything, But you have to expend the size of your faith.

Our God is not a small God; he is a big God; therefore, enlarge your territory.

Ask God for big things, because asking God for big things means your faith is big.

Brothers and sisters, Abraham is concerned about a single heir, but God is getting ready to give him more heirs than he can count.

Sometimes, we want a single blessing, but God wants to give us more blessings than we can count.

Abraham is worried about his single heir, but God wants to give him everything.

 

Let’s see verse 6 Abraham Faith 

6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

 

He does not believe any more, but now he believes in God. Now he moves from intellectual thinking to absolute trust.

You can read the word of God and never believe the God of the word, if we do not have absolute trust in him.

Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteousness.

He believed in God despite the obstacles.

He has no son; he is childless, but when the Lord showed him the stars in the sky and said, Abraham, your descendants will be like this,.

And when Abraham believed in this, he was counted righteous.

The message that Abraham believed counted him righteousness.

What did Abraham believe that God counted as righteousness?

Abraham believed that God was sending a son, and when he believed that God was sending a son, God counted him righteousness.

Abraham believed in a son that God was sending, and God counted him as righteousness.

Abraham put faith in his son, and God counted him righteousness.

This morning, we must all put our faith in the Son so that we may all be counted righteous.

Put your confidence in God, and He will make you righteous.

 

Abraham was waiting on Isaac, but Isaac is not the son we are waiting on. Isaac was a promise of Abraham, but we have another promise, and that is Jesus Christ.

He is despised and rejected, he is a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief, but he was wounded for our transgression, he was bruised for our sins.

He is the son of righteousness, he is the desire of all nations, he is a shelter in a time of storm, he is bread when you are hungry, he is the water, when you are thirsty, he is the shield and great reward, he is hope for the hopeless, he healed the sick, he gave sight to the blind, One Friday on the hill called Calvary, he died, but on Sunday morning he arose and sat at the right hand of the father.

And this should be our faith that he is coming soon.

 

Dear brothers and sisters

Let us not yearn for that day in our lives, knowing that when it comes, I will come running and believe in it.

But you have to believe now because he is coming.

You need to believe that whatever happens will be good.

You need to believe that His plan is many times better than my plan.

You need to believe that He is this great God.

You need to believe in what you cannot see now,  but just believe he has wonderful things for you.

Faith is the lifeblood of the God relationship, that is what God is looking for.

He is looking for people with faith like Abram, will he find it in you?

Amen.

Believe in God, no matter how things will happen, whether you are able to see them or not, whether you have solid proof or not, but just believe he will.

 Amen..